The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

201 Rights of Freedom

Emma’s explanation made Lukas turn to her, “It’s an unusual friendship.”

Emma chuckled, “It is. However, maybe that’s what makes us feel comfortable and could be friends without a burden.”

“We’re here,” Lukas said while looking at a bus stop two meters in front of them. With that, their conversation stopped.

“Thank you for taking me. Be careful on the way.” Emma said.

Lukas smiled faintly and nodded politely at her before walking away.

As soon as Lukas got to his car, he got into the driver’s door and found Levi leaning back with his eyes closed in the passenger seat. He smiled faintly as he started the car engine, “I didn’t know you could be this weak. I know you know what I mean, Levi.”

Levi opened his eyes slowly, “I know. You can talk about it later. Now, let this weakling rest.”

Then the car drove away, leaving Levi’s car by the side of the road to be taken at another time. In the meantime, they had to treat Levi’s wound which was not bad, but according to Emma, ??it was almost infected with tetanus.

***

.....

As soon as she turned on her cell phone at home, Emma found that everyone had called her multiple times, especially Calvin. Despite the fact that they both had group assignments to complete, Calvin asked where Emma was and how she was as if he was the most worried one. Even Emma’s three best friends didn’t contact her as much as Calvin.

After tormenting for hours in that damn barn, Emma was grateful that she was still okay. As soon as he got home, she immediately ate anything she could swallow. Luckily, she had some frozen food in the fridge.

Because of today’s incident, Emma was forced to skip classes. As usual, she would tell her friends that she was sick and didn’t notice that her phone had run out of power while she was sleeping.

Even though Emma felt guilty for lying, she would not break her agreement with Levi which said that they would not interfere in each other’s lives. If Emma told them that she was locked up with a man, she could imagine how her three best friends would react. Things would become troublesome.

Emma just replied to a text message from Calvin. Luckily, the presentation could still be continued tomorrow because there were too many groups in the assignment and not enough class hours. Otherwise, it was certain that Calvin’s grades ??would also be affected because he was in the same group as Emma.

Feeling tired, Emma decided to have a full rest today. She was lying on her soft, comfortable bed. Speaking of comfort, a memory of last night’s events made her choke.

Emma still couldn’t believe she could sleep with Levi. Well, even if it was ‘just’ a normal sleep. But it was Emma’s first time sleeping side by side with someone other than her mother. In fact, she never slept next to her own brothers.

But one thing crossed Emma’s mind. It was comfortable, really. Although it was embarrassing to admit, Emma could not lie to her own feelings. Emma held her chest and felt an unusual flutter there. She hoped that the pounding happened just because she remembered the unusual event she had experienced.

But a question arose in Emma’s mind. What did Levi actually feel about her? While he was delirious due to a high fever, he said a sentence that had a meaning that Emma’s mind couldn’t ignore.

Was it true that Emma make him couldn’t stop looking for her? Was that exactly what Levi was feeling, or was it just his hallucination?

“Dammit..” Emma sighed, “Why can’t he be out of my mind?” she muttered as she buried her face into the pillow.

***

A group of men gathered in a room with a large table and a few chairs. On the middle side of the table, the leader of the group sat with his hands lightly massaging the bridge of his nose. His head hurt because the problems did not stop coming. When they had overcome one problem, now a new, bigger problem approached.

“So.. Dragger did this for real, huh?” Marcel said.

Renu nodded, “They regularly send some of their men to enter the territory that used to be held by the Creeper.”

“We haven’t completely controlled Creeper’s former territory right now. But if we end up side by side with Dragger, then it will have a bad impact on our group.” Vico added.

Marcel nodded, “Dragger are a completely different group from Creeper. They are much stronger. Even their level is above ours. We can’t take the risk if one day they start to invade our territory.”

“I’ve recruited new members from the martial arts studios. That should be enough for tomorrow.” Damian said.

“Dragger is inexperienced in running a business like the Creeper. Even though they are old players in Handway City, they are still new to the street crime business. To harass the main holders of this area is a reckless act that Pablo Diablo would not commit.” Kenny said, referring to RJC.

Marcel nodded, “I hope so. But our problem now is Jita Kyoei who starts to attack us because RJC doesn’t want to return members from the martial arts studio and instead continue to recruit new members from there.”

“I guess that they will attack us soon,” Damian said as leaning back and folding his arms across his chest.

“After last time’s incident, did they say anything else to you?” Vico asked.

Marcel shook his head, “Just like me, they also thought that talking won’t solve the problem.”

“In that case, it’s only right that a man should solve things in a man’s way.” Damian smiled as he punched his own palm.

Beside him, Vico looked at the red-haired boy with a sneer, “You do like it from your heart.”

“We can’t just attack Jita Kyoei first. That will give RJC a bad look. Let Jita Kyoei who is considered a group of heroes become the villain who attacks another group first.” Kenny said.

Marcel nodded, “Get ready, warriors. You must always be alert. The war is at hand.”

***

The two ladies sat under a large tree that had lost its leaves. Emma looked up at the branches of the oak tree, “This tree will soon be lush again.”

“You don’t seem very fond of winter, do you?” Rachel asked.

“A lot of tough things in my life happened in winter. One of the toughest was the death of my mom.” Emma said.

“Leaving behind by someone we love forever is hard. Sometimes I can get scared just imagining my grandparents leaving.” Rachel nodded.

“Someone told me that death is inevitable and will happen to everyone. Therefore, we must live life and make our loved ones happy while we still have time.” Emma smiled faintly. “Unfortunately, I can’t do anything for my dad.”

Rachel turned to Emma, ??”Aren’t you going to visit him for a while? Even though you say your dad is cold, a father should love his daughter.”

“You’re actually right, Rachel. But I’m afraid that if I go back, then I can’t go out again because I’ve found my home here.” Emma answered. Then she looked down, “I am a selfish princess.”

“Thinking about your own happiness is not a selfish thing. Before making other people happy, you should feel happy first.” Rachel said.

Emma smiled at the girl sitting next to her, “Thanks, Rachel.”

“Then, have you heard any other news about the problem?” Rachel asked.

Emma understood what problem Rachel meant. Then she shook her head, “Before installing the sound recorder this morning, I haven’t heard anything. They should have another meeting this noon, as I heard from Calvin and Troy’s conversation this morning.” she explained. Now, they just had to wait for the meeting to happen and got all the information they needed.

Rachel nodded in understanding, “If in the end, neither of them wanted to give in, what are we going to do?”

Rachel’s question made Emma sigh, “That’s something that has been worrying me the most until now. Neither group did anything wrong. Jita Kyoei is trying to save the future of the studio students, while RJC is trying to protect the citizens of Redvalley.”

“But if you think about it, RJC doesn’t take studio students as they arbitrarily. In fact, it’s the students themselves who voluntarily joined the group. Isn’t it should be their right to choose to be athletes or gangsters?” Rachel said.

Emma was silent for a moment hearing that. Frankly, such thoughts had indeed crossed Emma’s mind all this time. But she tried to get rid of it because she was a person who was concerned about the bright dream for the future, just like Troy. But Rachel seemed to have a pretty high principle of freedom in life. That gave Emma new input into consideration.

“I guess you kind of right, Rachel. Everyone has the right to be free to choose their own path in life. However, I also appreciate the efforts of Troy and his friends to lead the kids back into their dreams, which logically is better than becoming a gangster.” Emma shrugged her shoulders.

Rachel nodded, “I feel you, Emma. But in the end, Jita Kyoei can’t do anything if the kids choose to stay at RJC. At least, RJC doesn’t do any crime or illegal business in Handway City.”

“Yeah, it has point. The only reason I still think about RJC’s goods is that they’re the only gangster group that doesn’t do any crime or business that harms people. They were formed because they wanted to protect many people on Redvalley Street. I can’t even imagine if RJC fell in the end. What would happen to the people of Redvalley Street and Marcel’s grandmother? They are good people, Rachel.” Emma explained woefully.